Tile wall construction



July 3l,` 1934.

H. L. WHEELER TILE WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed Marchs. 1931 ATTORNEYS.

I Patented 'July 31, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6Claims.

'Ihis invention relates to a wall construction in which the basis of the system is a hollow tile shown and described in my application for patent Ser. No. 387,398, hled August 21, 1929.

'Ihe ideal hollow tile is one that can be easily handled and one that will eliminate' the cutting oi.' the masons and laborers hands. It should also be easily manufactured and be designed so that it can be used, for many purposes in order to eliminate the expensive necessity of ordering special shapes for the building of corners, jambs, hashing blocks, ground blocks, and the elimination of brick. It should do all this Without increasing the weight of the tile, and without de 5 creasing from its load-bearing capacity.

, For the building of a wall I have created two blocks, both made from the same die, and exactly alike, with the exception that'one is cut off to a length equal to the height oi' the other. While the short tile could be used alone, it would increase the cost of my wall due to the fact that there would be more tile for the mason to butter on the ends, and he can lay practically as many of the larger units with my improved handle, as .25 he could the smaller.

For that reason approximately of my wall would be laid up with the larger size tile, and the small tile used only as jamb blocks, corso ners, piers, ground blocks, and an occasional block laid in places too small for the larger size Y tile.

Another object of this invention is to produce a wall which cooperates with ordinary hashing to form -a water tight joint.` Another object` of the invention is to produc a jamb portion of a wall more efficiently and economically. I Another object of the invention is to provide o awall having therein .nailing strips.

Another object oi' the invention is to provide a wall wherein the tiles are arranged more economically to control the height to fit `all ordinary requirements.

Another object of the invention is to eliminate brick in a tile wall construction by providing a convenient iand ever-readyv tile that is easily split without danger of destruction of itsl parts, thus ecuring always a proper height and end 5o and c rner construction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wall in which the webs of the tile are in alignment and are under the ordinary mortar joint that does not extend over the entire top and bot- I6 12cm o1 the tile in constructing the wall.

' port for lifting the tile.

(Cl. 'l2-41) With these and other objects in view, I will now proceed tovdescribe my invention in connection with the attached drawing in which:

Figure 1 illustrates one form oi my shorter tile. 00

Figure 2 illustrates the tile after it has been split. f I

Figure 3 illustrates my standard length tile of the usual sizeof '7% by 7% by 12 inches.

Figure 4 illustrates my standard length tile 05 of Figure 3 after splitting.

Figure 5 illustrates a wall in detached part as laid with my tile.

Figure 6 shows a modification of wall structure using my tile as a jamb block. '50

The tile of Figures 1 and 3 comprises an outer web l, an inner web 1', another inner web 1", and another Outer web 1', which I may construct as shown in Figures 1 and 3. These webs are connected by cross webs 2, 2. A handle 3 extends from end to end of the tile, leaving a space 4. This space also extends from end to end of the tile. The handle 3 is preferably curved as shown so that the fingers of the masons hand may extend under the handle, thus forming a hrm sup- Furthermore, by curving the handle it is not so liable to be broken when laid or when the tiles are transported from place to place and when piled upon each other.

In order to complete a hashing construction in a wall with my tile, the tile at the proper height is laid on its side as shown at 10. Figure 5, with the opening 4, Figure 1, extending along the wall. Then the rest of the wall may be run up to its desired height. After the masons are through and the roof `is cleared of the dbris, the roofer puts on the roof 12 and builds the hashing 11 and lls the groove with the mortar as illustrated.

In building with ordinary tile or brick it is @5 customary to run up the walls to the correct height for hashing and then stop until the hashing and. roohng is done or else put the hashing in and continue the Walls. The first method results in the roof being littered with broken bits of tile and mortar which are ground into it and often seriously damage it. If the hashing is put in and the roof leftofl until after the wall is completed, when the roof is hnally laid it is necessary to bend the hashing up in order to cement the felt to the wall, then bend it dowrbagain to the proper place. The result of this is the hash#- ing is often pulled loose. from the masonry and in any case it has been so bent out of shape that it is impossible to get it perfectly tight.

With my construction, the mason builds his wall to the proper height for flashing; he then lays a row of my tile on the side and goes forward with the completion of the wall in the customary manner, thus eliminating delays. When the walls are completed and the roof sheathing cleaned of all dbris, the roofer puts on the roof and then builds the flashing which hasoonlyv to be bent once and consequently there is produced an eillcient fit. l

It will'be noticed that the vertical webs 1-1,

cally over each other. Ninety percent of all tile walls are not laid in a full mortar bed, the mortar only extending from two to three inches from the face off the tile, with the result that the center walls in ordinary constructions carry no weight and the-total load is thrown on the two outside webs. The reason for not having a. full mortar bed is apparent as the mason cannot lay many tiles if over half of his time is taken up in spreading mortar. Furthermore, the mortar is expensive." y

In my construction of a wall, there are two separate mortar beds separated by a dead air space 4 and each` mortar bed is confined to the space directly over two vertical webs. 'Ihe mason, in spreading the mortar, will rst put it near the edges of the tile, then spread it with the point of his trowel just as he is accustomed to doing with tile other than mine, but with the open space 4 he naturally makes a mortar bed the correct width to cover the webs, thus producing a wall having a full bearing on the vertical webs and as the vertical webs are in alignment, the load is fully distributed throughout the wall giving a greater carrying capacity than is obtained in other tile construction. This occurs not only when using the full sized tile as the tile are so designed that the webs are in alignment when using a part of a tile, and the split tile after having its edge broken of! equals a third. of a tile, enabling a mason to ll in a much smaller space than he can with the ordinary half tile.

The part of the wall built around a window is illustrated at 20, Figure 5. By laying my tile, shown in Figures 1 or 3, with their handles in the position shown at 20, the mortar filling the middle partition forms an ideal'backing for the window jamb 21. i

Since the partitions 2 and2', Figures 1 and 3,

are easily broken, my tile may be conveniently` split into two tiles and used as shown at 15, Figure 5, to attain practically any desired height.

Furthermore, since my shorter tiles length-equals the height of other tiles, the tiles are adapted to be stood on end to form end tiles as shown at 25, Figure 5, and since the tiles may be easily split, they lend themselves to eliminating brick by using split tiles as shown at 27, Figure 5.

Since the handle to my tile extends from end to end thereof, when the tile is set on end as shdwn at 30, Figure 5, a nailing strip 31 may be embedded in themortar 32 in the wall. 4 y

By turning the openings 4 of the tile downwardly at the top of a window, a convenient lintel veniently split and inserted, as shown, to present a solid outer surface to the wall.

Many other advantages in wall construction may be obtainedby the use of my tile, one of which is illustrated in the modification shown in Figure 7 where the tile is laid with the open void downward and a 'timber 55 projected into the open space and other timbers arranged, as shown, to form a check rail window.

Having now described my new wall construction, what I claim as my invention is:

1. A hollow wall construction built of hollow tile having voids and webs in said tiles laidwith their voids extending horizontally and some with their voids extending vertically, the tile having a handle forming part running the full length of the tile on a level with a top side of the tile and mortar spread on the tile with a break or dead air space at the handle forming portion,

thus forming two separate mortar beds, the two mortar beds being in alignment with vertical side walls and webs in the tile and a course of the tiles lying on their sides and having roof flashng installed in said handle forming part of the iles.

2. A wall structure comprising a plurality of courses of hollow tiles, one course upon the other, said tiles each having two outer side webs and a solid bottom web, two inner webs parallel with said side webs and a plurality of cross webs joining said side webs and webs parallel therewith to form rectangular voids in the tile, the top of each tile, having an open space forming a handle extending longitudinally through said top side of each of the tiles, the side walls and webs parallel therewith being in vertical alignment through a series of courses and separated mortar joints between consecutive tile courses, one mortar Joint on each side of said open space, said wall having similar tiles therein at predetermined places with their open space handle forming part extending vertically with window framing inserted in said vertically extending vacant space.

3. A hollow tile wall construction comprising a plurality'v of courses of building tiles, each tile having four outer walls and two' parallel inner webs and a plurality of perpendicular cross webs forming rectangular voids, said voidsl extending horizontally .and being in vertical alignment throughout a plurality of courses, the top of each tile having a handle forming part on a level with the top plane of the tile and a vacant space running the full length of the tile and mortar spread between the courses of tile with a break at said vacant space extending along said handle lengthwise of the mortar joints, thus forming two separated mortar beds, the two mortar beds covering the entire solid upper surface of a tile, whereby the vertical walls and parallel webs of the tile and the mortar bed are in vertical alignment through a plurality of courses of tile.

4. vA house wall construction comprisingftiles having within them a plurality of partitions parallel to the sides of the tile and cross webs between the partitions to form voids, the voids in a plurality of courses in the tile being in vertical alignment, the top of each tile having a handle and a vacant space extending along the handle and opening into av void with mortar joints on each side of said vacant space, said wall having otherJ similar tile at predetermined places having their voids extendin'g at right angles to said first mentioned tile, and a part of the house wall construction extending into said vacant spaces en@ held therein by a mortar joint.

tiles having three solid sides and a top side having a handleextending longitudinally of the tile and a vacant space extending along the handle. some of the tiles being laid on their bottom sides with the handle and vacant space onthe top sides of the tiles extending longitudinally oi.' the wall, and mortar joints on opposite sides'of said vacant space, there being webs parallel with the sides and cross webs forming voids extending vertically through a plurality of courses,some ot vthe similar tiles at predetermined places in said courses being laid with their voidsextending at right angles to the voids and webs of said other similar tiles with the handleand vacant space extending vertically, the vertically extending vacant spaces having a maling strip placed therein. 6. A wall having a roof flashing construction,

said wall being built up of tiles in its lower part.

a course of similar tile near the top of said wail having its handle forming construction including a vacant space4 turned inwardly of the building, rooting material extending into said vacant-space and a mortar Joint nlling the void and holding in the open 'side of the tile.

the roofing material v HOWARD L.

Yus 

